Just curious as to why MPC removed most portholes and other details from the F3's beyond that needed to aid in printing the sides? The details are already in the tools...so the cost savings had to be minimal at most. If costing more to remove the items. I think I read they had slips that fit into the tooling to alter the details.
The removal of detail parts like the portholes and front nose grab irons pre-dated MPC. Lionel started this practice on the F3s (and other items) in the mid-1950s as toy train sales were starting to decline and they were trying to make their products cheaper to manufacture.
The F3s that were previously noted should have come equipped with horns as MPC still included those. During the postwar period Lionel originally used a two-piece horn assembly, but during the aforementioned cost-cutting measures in the mid- late-50s they started using the same one-piece horns that were originally used on the postwar Alcos and Geeps and this along with the other detail-removals simply carried over to the MPC era, exception that MPC took the additional step of removing the molded-in front nose grills.
One can easily get those horns, either the one-piece or two-piece, from a reputable parts dealer such as Henning's Trains, "O'nly 3 Rail (Chuck Sartor), Olsen's Toy Train Parts, or Brasseur Electric Trains.
